The National Football League marched out of court yesterday with an order giving it the power to seize counterfeit Super Bowl merchandise that may be offered for sale in San Diego County during the NFL's premier event.

Superior Court Judge Charles Wickersham signed the order giving the NFL the authority to immediately confiscate any bogus goods it may find, whether they are sold at retail establishments or on street corners by individuals.

The order is effective from noon today through midnight Monday.

"We've already found some counterfeit merchandise, which is a bit earlier than we usually do," said Paula Guibault, senior intellectual-property attorney for the NFL. "That may be a sign that there will be an uptick in counterfeit merchandise this year."

NFL merchandising is a highly lucrative business. An estimated $2.9 billion in NFL-licensed merchandise is sold each year, with sales of Super Bowl merchandise expected to be about $100 million this year, Guibault said. Merchandise includes such items as $17 Super Bowl T-shirts, $24 hats, $65 replica jerseys and $325 leather jackets.

Guibault said the NFL seized 2,000 counterfeit Super Bowl hats and 600 T-shirts Tuesday in the Los Angeles garment district. She said counterfeit merchandise has been seen at a National City liquor store, although the NFL has yet to seize that.

Between 5,000 and 10,000 counterfeit items were confiscated by the NFL during playoff games the past month, Guibault said.

The NFL will have teams of investigators working with San Diego police to ferret out illegal merchandise. Guibault would not say how many people have been assigned to that detail.

"We probably won't see much counterfeit merchandise until the game gets closer," she said. "The counterfeiters seem to follow the tourists. When the tourists get here, the counterfeiters will show up."

All NFL-licensed T-shirts, jackets, hats and other merchandise have a lighthouse hologram on a gold sticker, the official licensing mark from the NFL for Super Bowl merchandise.

Guibault said she expects most illegal hats and shirts to be sold in the Gaslamp Quarter; along the waterfront, including the NFL Experience at Embarcadero Marina Park South; and other areas heavy with visitors. On game day, the NFL expects to find some illegal merchandise being sold near Qualcomm Stadium.

Jerry Cohen, who rented the San Diego Wigs & Beauty Supply space at Fifth Avenue and Market Street in the Gaslamp Quarter, said counterfeiters rarely offer their goods to licensed retailers.

"They know we won't take their stuff because if the NFL finds out about it, it will be seized, and they might just shut down our whole shop," said Cohen, whose Payless Sports Memorabilia of Wilmington, Del., markets merchandise for the Super Bowl, the NCAA Final Four basketball tournament and college football's Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.

Leanna Malone of Tempe, Ariz., has four storefront outlets of Major T's in the Gaslamp Quarter, but said counterfeiters don't approach her.

"When it starts to get crowded in the streets, you'll see the counterfeiters," she said. "They are the ones who are carrying very full bags and always looking around. It's easy to spot them."